Modi termed this pilot project to be an innovative merger of "jal and urja shakti" for a greener tomorrow, which virtually eliminates the need to acquire huge tracts of land, as is typically needed in setting up such plants.

The trial run of plant shows that solar panels here produced 15 per cent extra power as compared to land installations as the water flowing under the panels keeps them relatively cool, he said.

A worker crosses India's first 1MW canal-top solar power plant at Chandrasan village near Mehsana, 45 kms from Ahmedabad on World Earth Day, April 22, 2012. (BCCL)

"This initiative of Gujarat on Narmada branch canal network has the potential to bring down per unit cost of clean energy from solar panels to between Rs 8 to Rs 8.50 in future," Modi said.

"When we had mooted this concept of solar power generation, there were very few takers, so ultimately I had asked the state utility to take up this project, but now lot of people are keen to execute it," Modi said.

Drawing parallels between solar and coal-based power generation, Modi said that 600 MW of solar power dedicated to the nation by Gujarat recently, would otherwise had required 7.5 lakh tonnes of coal, plus freight cost, working to Rs 250 crore annually.

The state's solar power initiatives would help nation save Rs 6,500 crore over the next 25 years, besides reducing carbon emissions to the tune of 8 lakh tonnes, Modi said.

The solar plant set up at the cost of around Rs 17.50 crore by the US-based Sun Edison and is projected to generate 1.6 million units annually and simultaneously prevent evaporation of 9 million litres of water.

The entire length of SSNL canal network in Gujarat is around 19,000 kilometres and if even 10 per cent of it is used for this type of projects it could generate 2,400 MW of clean energy annually, Modi said.

"It would eliminate need of 11,000 acres of land required for a solar project of this magnitude and save 2 billion litres of water annually," an official statement said.